AN APPRAISAL OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF CHILDREN IN NIGERIA

Abstract

In today’s Nigeria, there are reported cases of increasing insecurity and the growing incidence of attacks on schools, kidnapping of children, forced displacement, and other violations of children's rights, especially in conflict-affected communities. Nowadays, it is no longer news to hear cases of mass abduction of school children, defilement, rape, child trafficking, child labour and the numbers of out of school children is soaring by the day. The situation has created tension, despair and worry about the safety and future of our young generations. Using the doctrinal method of legal research, this study examined the adequacy of the existing legal framework for child protection, in Nigeria and proposing practical measures for strengthening child protection in Nigeria. It was found that Nigeria possesses an extensive legal framework for the protection of children's rights through the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Child's Rights Act 2003, and other relevant statutes, complemented by international and regional human rights instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. These legal instruments collectively recognize children as holders of enforceable rights and imposes corresponding obligations on the state to ensure their protection, survival, development, and participation. The principal challenge lies not in the absence of legal provisions but in the ineffective implementation and enforcement of existing laws. Weak institutional coordination, inadequate funding, insecurity, delayed administration of justice, uneven domestication of the Child's Rights Act, and insufficient preventive security measures continue to undermine the effective protection of children, particularly in conflict-affected areas.  We recommend among other things for the enactment of a law establishing Child Rights Commission in Nigeria to champion the implementation of child protection laws in the country. That way, the vulnerability of children in Nigeria will be reduced, if not eliminated.